The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial variety of Vaccinium hybrid (Southern Highbush Blueberry), which has been given the variety denomination of ‘Ridley 4514. Its market class is that of a fruiting plant. ‘Ridley 4514’ is intended for use as fresh fruit for shipping, customer pick and processing markets and as a home garden plant.
The new Vaccinium hybrid cultivar is a selection resulting from seedlings produced in a breeding programme of Vaccinium at Lindendale, NSW, Australia in 2006 from the controlled pollination of seed parent ‘C99-42’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,695) with pollen parent ‘C00-008’ (unpatented). The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single plant within a population of 100 resulting Vaccinium hybrid plants from this controlled pollination in 2008 in a commercial field plantation environment at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia. Selection criteria was a combination of strong plant growth vigor, low chilling requirement, early time of flowering and fruit ripening, large to very large firm fruit suited to handling, high yield, desirable tasting berries and small picking scar.
The selection was subsequently evaluated for a number of years at the commercial farms at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cutting propagation since 2009 at Lindendale, New South Wales, Australia has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.